Dating nail-seal.



E. J. BROOKS.

SEAT...

APPLmATIoN PILED OUT. 21, 1909 DATING NAIL Patented Apr. 12, 1910.

UNITED STATES PATEN T OFFI EDWABD-J'., BBOOKS, OF EAST OBANGE, NEW J'ERSEY.

DA'DING mLILsEAL.-

Specification o! Letters Patent. Application filed October a fsoag serial m; teston.-

Patented A r. 12, 1910.

means for indicating the age of ralway' cross-ties' or sl-eepers, telegraph and tele-` phone poles, or colliery prop Wood, 'and for general use where like tinbers are employed and renewals have to be made. For that] purpose, a date nail or"dating. nail is' driven into it leaves the supply depot or yard, and's structibl-e narker or 'seal thereof. Heretofore* such dat-ing nails have been ordinary nails having flat heads provided with raised 'characters which, owing to the irre ular sha es of the characters, renderit di 'cult: without defacing or rive the nails home bendingthem, and too liable to wprk loose or to be surreptitiously withdrawn to' be reliable as permanent markers or eals.

The present invention consists in such dat-` ing nal sea-Is, of improved construction,'as hereinafter described and claimed.

The leading objects of this invention are to facilitate driving' home the nail seals without bending or defacing them, and at the' same time to secu`rely anchor' the nail seals in the resilient wod, so as to render it practically impossible for them toi work loose or to be' withdra-wn without so marring the Wood or metal or both as to show that the have been tamperedwith;

V &ther hbjects will be set forth 'in the general description which follows;

A sheet of drawings accompanies' `this specification as art thereof. e

Figures 1 an 2 are respectively top and side views of'a dating nai seal constructed according to-the present invention; Fi 3 represents a magnified section on the %ne A B,Fig 1, showi pears when driven; i and side viewsof anot constructed according to the same invention; Fig. 6 re resents a section on the line C-D, Fig. 4 s owing' this nail seal as it appears when' riven'; Bigs. 7 and 8 are longitudinal sections of addtional species of the' im-- proved* dating nail seal; and Fi'gs. 9 and .10

the nail seal as it aps. 4 and are top parts in' all'the figures. ecies the im roved nail' seal is composed o I metal.

each sleeper or the like before` 'formed by two characters in intended to be an nseparable and inde-.

` to 1999 099) inclusive head fiat er dating nail seal as to securely .are respectively a top view and longitudi- J. BRooKs, a j

nal section of a lettered nail seal constructed according to *the same invention in part.

.Like reference characters refer to like In each of the s t a flat-top'pe head, .a or a or a or a* or a, and a central reng, b, and' is intended -and adapted ..to be made in one part of galvanized iron or other suitable In each ofthe species 'the head a. ora-' or a or a* or ais provided with-a* n unber or its equivalent, which' may Conveniently be lace ofthe single central character hereto ore used, so as to indicate any one -o'f the years 1910='{ 10) such characters bemg 'located'bn opposite sides of the center of the head and prong, and the head is recessed to form such characters so th-art -the' 'latter ma be surrounded by a flat to'p` surface, ren' riig the driving surface "of 'the and substantially .uniforn from Buch characters and to surectively at 1 and' 2 n the nother characteristic of side to side. face are shown res several figure.

'the head a or a or. a or a* or 1 in each species is a Wood penetrating bottom edge, 3, :formed by a downward pro ecting flange or its equivalent, underlying the fiat'rim ofthe head,- and made sharp so as to 'readily cut its driven as in Figs. 3 and 6.

In eachspecie's the characters represented at 1 are rased within a depression, 4, and' the top surface 2 is that of a rim or crown flange' surrounding and protecting them aga instdeface when the nail is driven, and at the same time -facilitatng the work of driving home 'the nail without bending it.

In the species representedby Figs. 1, 2, and 3, said bottom edge ;3 is formedby a downward' project'ing flange V'-shaped in vertical section and continuous, and the outer edge`5'of the head is pe endicular to said top surface 2 to about t e driving level, and is provided immediately below this level .with a cireumferential gro'ove 6,' into which the resilient wood expands when the nail seal is driven home, as in Fig. 3, lock the nail seal against working loose, and against 'being readily withdrawn. I

the dating charactersment 'way into the Wood when the nail sealv is and 10' 'tivel 'that of seoon the bottom edge 3 and another salient angle,'

7,. outermost and below the-level to 'which the head is adapted tobe driven as represented: in 6. The upper side or 'bevel, 8 of the flage is thus adapted to pel-'mit the 'expansion of the Wood mwa'd above said outesalient le .7 ss an equivalent of ;the circumferental groove 6 of the head a of the first species: otherwise the nail seal a boi the second ies is or may besubidentieal with that of the. first speces In thethi'd and fo th ie's ,represetd by Figs; 7 aid 8, w -penetrating edges & fet-med by fis which are respectively ehiselsha and like those 'oi'- said nail seal a' b o the second species, are 'divided into points '01: s to furthera seals'repi'esented b'y-Figs; 9 o may; be i'dentcal with each of the 4 The. modifications i the ova'l heads represented in the other figures.

The oval* heads accommodate two characters without materially reducing their size 4 in'a nail seal of-given weight, and the construction of the hed as above' described adapts the nail seals to be driven with such;

suggest themselves to -those skilled' in the Having .thns described said improvement`, 'I claim-as myinvention anddesireto .patent under this specifi'cation: 1. 'A nail seal havi lie'dconstructed wit a character-formin teotin V 2, dating nail seal having a. flat-topped head and drivable .atitaching `mens, said head being rovidedwith raised characters, 1 -surrounded y a aisedrim, wherebj-a flat by B & 4 and' 10 insubstititi'nga single 'char: "fletet ;which'may -be &letter of a' I neral, ;4 in the top 'of .the head a? of'theimil seul a bs and in makingthe head a round as eompared-with' driving-surface is formedand the characters; are protected a ist 'defacement ED witnesses:

- J. BROOKS,

,ELINOR BBOOKH."

a margina io'ming a` flat driving surface' and prothe charc'te''s .aganst defacenient.- r

*ARD J. BROOKS. r

characters wouldbe i'om 10 to. 99 inclu'sive, 

